TravelStream™ news feed for member mattinhaiti on TravelPod's free travel blogs service http://www.travelpod.com/syndication/rss/mattinhaiti en-us Copyright ©2009 TravelPod.com Thu, 24 Nov 2005 13:42:31 -0500 http://www.travelpod.com http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/mattinhaiti/ecuador_-_2004/1132857300/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/mattinhaiti/ecuador_-_2004/1132857300/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/mattinhaiti/ecuador_-_2004/1132857300/tpod.html Thu, 24 Nov 2005 13:42:31 -0500 Evacuated from Haiti and dropped in Ecuador, continuing my Peace Corps adventure!

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Cuenca, Ecuador

Happy Thanksgiving everyone.I am having turkey day with a few Peace Corps friends and an american couple that is living in Cuenca for the next few months. We will hopefully have all the trimmings. This will be my last travel entry. I know some of you are saying, "thank god, no more junk mail!" I am leaving my site this Sunday, the 28th. I am going to the Galapagos with my mom for five days, finishing up paperwork in Quito and then flying home the 15th of December. I will sure that I will have mixed emotions about leaving when I am about to step on the taramac but, at this moment, I am ready to go!I had a great 22 months here in Ecuador and I have made some wonderful friends that I will keep in contact with for years to come. I also had a moving 6 months in Haiti. My Peace Corps experience was very fruitful and I would not change a thing (eventhough PC San Vicente and the Grenadines would have been nice!).Hopefully I will see everyone soon. If you are in the DC area, drop me a line and we can meet up over some real food!Besos,Matt
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/mattinhaiti/ecuador_-_2004/1130189520/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/mattinhaiti/ecuador_-_2004/1130189520/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/mattinhaiti/ecuador_-_2004/1130189520/tpod.html Mon, 24 Oct 2005 17:34:16 -0400 Evacuated from Haiti and dropped in Ecuador, continuing my Peace Corps adventure!

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Quito, Ecuador

This is an entry I wrote three weeks ago. I wasn't able to upload it until now. . .Travelpod Entry Monday, October 04, 2005Nine more weeks. My Peace Corps experience is winding down. The last month has been an interesting four weeks; a lot of work, a lot of fiestas and a touch of home with the beginning of the football season. After a long time in Quito, I can usually only handle 3 or 4 days, I came back to Jima with the chicken project in high gear. I have been turned into a daily commuter, just like back in DC, getting on the 20-minute bus every morning at 7:30am or, if I'm lucky, at 10:45am, braving the bumpy dirt road, and coming back anytime between 3 and 6. The buses are sporadic at best, so often times I end up walking the hour and a half back to Jima, racing the sun in order to avoid unhappy dogs in the dark. The group finished the chicken building - it is a lot bigger than I imagined it would be- on September 10th. We ate guinea pig in celebration. I have to admit that the dog and cat got a lot of my dish. I think I am over eating rodents.I was pleased to make it into Cuenca for Monday night football on September 12th. I watched the game with Spanish commentary. That was less than perfect but the game was enjoyable nonetheless. On the 17th we made our first round of shampoo. We buy the chemicals in Cuenca, add some natural ingredients, throw it in bottles and sell each bottle for a buck fifty. The first round was a tester round. The associates liked the quality, so the second time -the 27th - we actually bottled the product and sold it at the fiestas in Jima, more about those in a bit. The 19th I was back in Cuenca for Redskins-Cowboys. I was not too happy with the how the Redskins looked but those two miracle passes to Moss reassured me a little.The 23rd of September we bought our first round of chickens, 100 two-week-old pollos. We found a new place to buy our animals. It is a little more expensive but the staff knows its stuff and they are really professional, a rarity in Ecuador. The 24th, I was at a baptism all day. I was the godfather for an 11 year old, Fernando, who is the nephew of my landlord. He really wanted to get baptized even though his mother and the rest of his family are not practicing Catholics. I think other students at the high school were giving him a hard time about not being baptized. The ceremony was quick. The Irish priest blessed everyone and that was it, maybe 20 minutes. Afterward, we went back to the house and danced for the rest of the day, stopping only to eat a lot of food, guinea pig, fried pork, chicken soup, rice and chicken. The food that can't be finished is stuffed in a bag to take home. It is the family's responsibility at these functions to supply a ton of food as a status symbol. The Argudo family is well-off by Jima standards so the party was extravagant. I was there from 11am until about 5:30pm.The 25th and 26th I was in Cuenca buying last minute supplies for the shampoo endeavor, for the chickens and for the pigs that are soon to come. Football again was the highlight. I watched a game Sunday night and Monday night. On Sundays, the late game is the only one shown. During halftime, there are soccer highlights only. I have to go to the internet café to see the day's results. The 28th, my landloard, Gloria came over in tears because she had talked to her husband in White Plains, NY and he has threatened to divorce her unless she can make it to the States within the next six months. She has two sons by him, the last coming when he was here for a few weeks two years ago. He has been in the States for 9 years. Usually, the husband in the States has a completely new family and it gets expensive to take care of two families. I believe that he has given Gloria an impossible ultimatum, in order to get rid of her. I just hope that she doesn't try to go illegally, the danger is too great, especially for a woman.Another slap in Gloria's face was the opening of a new hostel next door to hers. My neighbor to the right has a mansion by any standards built with US money. For the Jima fiestas, they opened as a hostel with DirecTV, a neon light-up sign, reception desk and a lot of marketing. There are not enough tourists to justify three hostels in Jima, especially two next to each other. Gloria's hostel filled up nonetheless but I wonder what this means for her business in the future.A lot of Ecuadorians came for the Jima fiestas. They began on Thursday with bands, fireworks and vendors. I made an appearance at every event but was usually in bed by 11pm. The craziness continued until 4 or 5am every night though and it was not easy to sleep with the drunks in the streets, the boom boxes and the relentless fireworks. The bands started up again each morning at 6am. For fiestas, the people go crazy. Normally, people are in bed by 8pm and up at 5am but during party-time there is no sleep to be had but homemade liquor and music flow freely.The group sold 14 bottles of the 28 bottles of shampoo we made in three days. I consider that a success. There is plenty more time to sell the rest. Hopefully, they have a client base now. Funniest, oddest thing during the fiesta: I was sitting waiting for the folklore dances to begin at the school. To my left was a midget, to my right there were three albinos and behind me was a kid with downs syndrome and a clown, but all eyes in the school yard were focused strictly on me, the greatest spectacle of all.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/mattinhaiti/ecuador_-_2004/1129820160/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/mattinhaiti/ecuador_-_2004/1129820160/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/mattinhaiti/ecuador_-_2004/1129820160/tpod.html Thu, 20 Oct 2005 11:05:33 -0400 Evacuated from Haiti and dropped in Ecuador, continuing my Peace Corps adventure!

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Cuenca, Ecuador

Hello everyone,I am sorry this will be a short entry. There are internet problems in Cuenca. Supposedly an antenna fell down so the whole city is disconnected. I didn´t think internet worked that way but what do i know! I am going to spend the last two hundred dollars of the grant money today. As of today we have, three hundred chickens, three 260 pound breeder pigs, a thriving shampoo making, selling project and the beginning of a yogurt project to sell yogurt as an alternative to candy and coke at the local elementary schools. Tomorrow the group will be totally independent. I am very excited for them to start taking on all responsibility. For the last two months, I have had to do everything from buying nails to checking chicken prices becuase no one wanted to have anything to do with the grant money, afraid that they would be accused of theft. Always possible in a country as corrupt as Ecuador. I wrote a long entry update about three weeks ago but I have not been able to upload it. Hopefully in the next week I will be able to send more.All the best to everyone and please keep in touch,Matt Koerner
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/mattinhaiti/ecuador_-_2004/1124919360/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/mattinhaiti/ecuador_-_2004/1124919360/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/mattinhaiti/ecuador_-_2004/1124919360/tpod.html Wed, 24 Aug 2005 18:16:48 -0400 Evacuated from Haiti and dropped in Ecuador, continuing my Peace Corps adventure!

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Cuenca, Ecuador

Dear everyone,I am sitting in the fancy mall in Cuenca using the free Internet service that is available throughout the mall. Is this Peace Corps? Ecuador is rich in the cities and poor in the country. I could be at any mall in the US right now, same prices, same movies in the theater - with Spanish subtitles - same food court. As always, I have let a lot of time go by and, now, I have a million things to share with you. First of all, the chicken project is moving and shaking. We received the money, started construction and are own our way. Please check out the construction photos that I uploaded with this entry. The community has reacted somewhat negatively to the advancements of our project. Some of the people are threatening to call the authorities because they are not benefiting from the group. The group consists of 10 highly dedicated people that I have been working with for the last 10 months. Now that construction has begun, greedy community members are coming out of the wood work to get a piece of the pie. They do not want to work, they do not want to help, they just want a share of the profits. After 15 months, I found only 10 people that truly wanted to work, attend meetings and that were honest and dedicated. Now, everyone is interested. I asked one lady where she was 15 months ago when I was explaining my role in the community and she told me that she didn't think any project with me would profit; she thinks so now.Tragically, one of the 15 year old boys from San Vicente was killed when a boat that was carrying Ecuadorian illegals to Guatamala sank. There was a mass in remembrance last Sunday. I hope that this discourages some of the people in my region (70% of the male population leaves to the cities, the US or Europe) from spending all their money ($12,000 - $15,000) on passage to the States. If I could convince at least 3 or 4 young people that life in Ecuador is not that bad and that living in the US as an illegal is horrible, I will leave a happy volunteer. Last week, I went to the beach to watch the whales. The whales come up the Ecuadorian Coast with the Humbolt current. We went whale watching in their mating grounds. Some jumped fully out of the water. Others shot water out of their blow holes. Pretty amazing to say the least. Before seeing the whales, we also visited Isla de la Plata - the poor man's Galapagos - where we saw boobies (birds) and frigate birds. Albatrosses also inhabit the island along with sea lions but we saw neither. Tomorrow I am off to Quito. I have to see the doctor for my allergies - I think I am allergic to my community! - write for the Peace Corps - Ecuador newsletter and pick up some chemicals to make shampoo and soap with my group. I will be in Quito for about 10 days, so e-mail often, I'll have Internet every day!!
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/mattinhaiti/ecuador_-_2004/1121968560/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/mattinhaiti/ecuador_-_2004/1121968560/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/mattinhaiti/ecuador_-_2004/1121968560/tpod.html Thu, 21 Jul 2005 13:57:58 -0400 Evacuated from Haiti and dropped in Ecuador, continuing my Peace Corps adventure!

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Jima, Ecuador

I am writing to you all from my kitchen. The sun is shinning through the windows and I can see the deep blue sky and the clouds from where I sit. The sun is deceiving because it is really icy cold outside. This is Ecuador's winter and the wind blows hard through the mountains, chilling even the Ecuadorians to the bone. To combat the cold, I have a large mug of coffee that I will continuously refill throughout the day. I am also wearing thermal socks, a long sleeve shirt, sweater and jacket. I have a hot water heater for my showers - an extreme luxury for Peace Corps - but it cannot heat the water quick enough. My showers are tepid at best. Nonetheless, I cannot complain. My Peace Corps living conditions are 10 times better than many volunteers in Ecuador and 1,000 times better than the average set-up in Haiti. It is good to be back in Jima after three weeks in the States. I needed the break to recharge a bit. I came back to a few surprises. My chicken and pig project - Koerner Sociedad Avicola - won the grant money that we applied for. Everything will be covered except for the cost of the land. We had a meeting yesterday to discuss the location of the project. The fear is that if we rent land from someone, they might turn on the group and take the buildings as their own. The group has $60 to its name right now. To my relief, the group stepped up and said that they would find the money for land. They are dedicated enough to contribute their own money in one-way or another to get this project going. I told them that they could talk and come up with a solution by our next meeting. They assured me that they would settle it. It feels good to have such a strong group to work with. Another surprise was that my roommate, the new Peace Corps volunteer that arrived two months ago, has not moved out yet. I am not too pleased about her still being here. Her house was approved over a month ago yet she is still here. It is frustrating that one of the largest obstacles I face has nothing to do with Peace Corps or Ecuador or cultural difficulties but rather I have a bad American roommate that was forced upon me that I cannot get rid of! After a year and a half here, I have a pretty solid solo routine and it is disrupted daily by the new volunteer. To state things simply, She is driving me Crazy!!!More positive - sorry to rant and rave - my garden is booming. I have been eating fresh salads daily. The broccoli is pretty good but does not reach full growth before flowering. I have sautéed zucchini twice a week and the lettuce and cilantro are on their way. The garden is very exciting. I hope to plant some more things to see how they work out and hopefully I am going to get a couple of laying hens for fresh eggs. That is all for now. I hope everyone is well. Please keep in touch. It was great seeing everyone in DC or Alexandria. If I didn't see you, I apologize. Don't fret, I'll be home for good soon enough.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/mattinhaiti/ecuador_-_2004/1118162100/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/mattinhaiti/ecuador_-_2004/1118162100/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/mattinhaiti/ecuador_-_2004/1118162100/tpod.html Tue, 07 Jun 2005 12:39:48 -0400 Evacuated from Haiti and dropped in Ecuador, continuing my Peace Corps adventure!

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Qutio, Ecuador

Travelpod 6/7/2005Hello all. I am in Quito working on a grant proposal for my chicken project and hoping to get back down to the south of Ecuador as soon as possible. The chicken group is asking for $4,500 to build two buildings, one for chickens and one for pigs. Ideally, the grant will also include enough money for an initial round of animals, 300 chickens and 12 pigs. This will give the group a real leg-up for continuing the project on their own after they sell the first round of animals. I have not been teaching English as much as I was, because the teacher's union is upset that one American is occupying two teacher positions. The high school hired two non English-speaking professors to take my place. I guess it is better to appease the teacher's union by supplying two paid teacher positions than to have one free, native English-speaking teacher.Other than that, I am spending most of my time working with the chicken group. I have a lecture coming up on hydroponics. Guinea pigs eat a lot, so growing grass for them hydroponically is fast and efficient. We shall see what the people think. I also have a strong garden going (thanks for the help on that, dad) with fresh vegetables for daily salads. I am working on a flower garden to beautify my front yard a bit. The weather has been great. Sunday, the 5th, I, for some unknown reason, ran in a 14km race:http://www.elcomercio.com/fotos/ultimas/UN2005/UN2005historia.htmlMy friends talked me into it and I did it without preparation. I am not a runner, have never been and after that race, don't have any plans to be one in the future! But running/walking 8.4 miles at an altitude of 9,000 feet in unrelenting smog was a personal success none the less. Hope everyone is well. Best regards as always.Matt
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/mattinhaiti/ecuador_-_2004/1116947880/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/mattinhaiti/ecuador_-_2004/1116947880/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/mattinhaiti/ecuador_-_2004/1116947880/tpod.html Tue, 24 May 2005 11:22:51 -0400 Evacuated from Haiti and dropped in Ecuador, continuing my Peace Corps adventure!

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Jima - the home of tranquility, Ecuador

TravelogueSunday, May 22, 2005I feel like I do not have much to write this time around. Day to day happenings have more or less developed into a solid routine for me. The chicken group I am working with is getting stronger. They have had two turns with profits. They are happy and excited that the group is working together efficiently. I talked to my contact in the office and he said that the group looks like a promising candidate for funding. I have discussed future plans with the group and their idea is to get some financial help to build a large chicken enclosure (1,000 chickens), a pig enclosure (12 pigs-one for each associate), and a small communal room for meetings and to act as a sales center.One of the cooler things that happened in the past few weeks was that the chicken group decided to name their association after me. The name of the group, for now, is "Koerner Sociedad Avicola". Pretty catchy! I cut an arrow sign out of some scrap wood and I am going to burn an advertisement into with a wood sign burner thing-a-ma-bob. It will more or less say, "WE HAVE CHICKENS - LIVE OR CLEANED. THE MOST ECONOMICAL PRICE FOR THE BEST QUALITY". Working with motivated people is very exciting for me. Also, the Koerner Sociedad Avicola gives me a free chicken each time around, which is nice.The electricity is being fixed. The government is putting in new lines so that there will be fewer power outages. Before things get better, they get worse. We have not had electricity since the 18th. Not having electricity is not a big deal if you're used to it but after getting warm and cozy with lights and music each night, the lack of it can be nerve-racking. I have been going to bed at 7:30pm and waking up with the sun. Another crazy Saturday night in the metropolis of Jima!My married friends, Meg and Staley, have left Jima. We had a week of good-bye parties. I am very sorry to see them go but I know I will meet up with them again in the States some day. The new volunteer has been here for two weeks. She is living in the hostal with me right now. It has been a little difficult adjusting to a roommate because I am accustomed to my own space. It is awkward sharing food and a kitchen and waking up to someone new in the house. I think she found a house of her own that she likes yesterday. Hope, Hope! On a sad note, Fran is missing. I gave my dog, Fran, to an Ecuadorian friend of mine, Roman, about two months ago. She comes back to my house regularly to visit. Her new owner loves her dearly and they get along really well. But no one has seen Fran for a week now. She usually runs around, free as a bird, and turns up after a day or two at either my house, her home or in the center of town. Once, she was gone for 6 days. This time is different because they dropped poison in the center last week. I gave Fran to Roman so that she could have a more routine life. I travel so much that she was shuffled around when I was out of town. With Roman, she is always looked after. Roman is broken up about her disappearance. He really misses her, as do I, and hopefully she will turn up soon. I hope that everyone is doing great and enjoying the approach of summer. I have a new e-mail address: matthewkoerner@gmail.com. This new address replaces all other addresses and is my go-to mail now. I wish everyone the best and please drop me a line if you get a chance.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/mattinhaiti/ecuador_-_2004/1114714140/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/mattinhaiti/ecuador_-_2004/1114714140/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/mattinhaiti/ecuador_-_2004/1114714140/tpod.html Thu, 28 Apr 2005 14:50:55 -0400 Evacuated from Haiti and dropped in Ecuador, continuing my Peace Corps adventure!

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Jima - the home of tranquility, Ecuador

Travelogue Monday, April 25, 2005To my family and friends in the States and around the world, a message from Ecuador.I was in Haiti for six months before the president was overthrown. I had to wait a little longer in Ecuador. After 15 months, another president has hit the road. I did not expect to see so much political turmoil during my Peace Corps experience. It surely keeps things interesting. My small community could not care less about the political situation; there are no marches, burning tires, tear gas canisters within an hour of where I live. The majority of the turmoil is in Quito. I do not hear much because I am rarely in Cuenca to check the news. I think that the current void in Quito will not be filled for some time. Volunteers in Quito are not allowed to leave the city and volunteers in other regions are not allowed to enter Quito. Many volunteers are highly frustrated by this rule because they have things to do in the Peace Corps office like prepare to return to the States. Everything has been postponed and some volunteers have to push their service completion dates back. Hopefully everything will be resolved soon and Ecuador will return to its day-to-day routines. I wish I could explain more about what is happening in Quito but, like I said, I do not have access to newspapers or Internet. You all probably know more than I do. As for me, I am teaching full-time (20 hours a week) at the high school. I am the only English teacher now; I have four classes a week with each of the five grades. Last week was exam week. I gave an extremely basic exam and some did well and some did not so well. The rate of progress is pretty frustrating but all I can do is grin and bear it. My chicken group started their second round of chicks. With the first hundred, they ended up profiting $60. After this round, I hope that they profit around $200. We shall see. Be sure to keep your fingers crossed! I promised them that if this round goes well, we would look for some funding to build a pigpen and possibly a larger chicken house with a 500 chicken capacity. The women in the group want to make shampoos and soaps to sell. I am looking into the materials to get that started as well.I am studying diligently for the GRE. It's nice to have so much free time to really sit down and study. In DC, I don't think I would have the time to concentrate. I am planning on applying to master degree programs in education at the University of Virginia, the University of Pennsylvania and Johns Hopkins University. After my experience teaching here and briefly in Haiti, I feel that I would enjoy teaching as a career.That is where things stand with me! I hope everyone is doing well. Please keep in touch and fill me in on the happenings in your lives.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/mattinhaiti/ecuador_-_2004/1110385260/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/mattinhaiti/ecuador_-_2004/1110385260/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/mattinhaiti/ecuador_-_2004/1110385260/tpod.html Wed, 09 Mar 2005 11:24:16 -0500 Evacuated from Haiti and dropped in Ecuador, continuing my Peace Corps adventure!

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Jima, Ecuador

Hello all!This week marks my one-year anniversary in Ecuador! It has been an interesting year with its share of ups and downs. I feel that my time here is finally making a difference; many volunteers say that it takes about a year to get things moving and the pattern has not changed for me. I am teaching full-time at the High School, 5 English classes and 2 physical education classes. Some days I have a lot of fun teaching but other days I would rather stay at home. My 8th grade English class has 46 students and they can be a real handful. Cheating is not looked down upon in Ecuador so my biggest challenge is to prevent wondering eyes during quizzes and exams. The education system overall is very weak and unstructured compared to the public schools in the States. Students have to pay tuition to attend the public schools and the majority of the children in the outer regions cannot afford to pay or the parents need them to help with the daily chores. The students cannot fail because they are paying. Everyone goes onto the next grade regardless of how they do in the classroom. The inability to fail creates a complete disregard for studying, completing assignments or learning at all. Out of the 73 students I have in my English classes, I get homework from about 34 students. While I am doing my best to teach these classes, the lack of improvement is highly frustrating. The majority does not study at all and the few that do study, remember little for more than a day or two. Many of the kids cannot write words correctly in Spanish let alone English. The students I teach are between 12 and 15. I believe that they are at about the same education level as a typical 5th grader in the States at best. Nevertheless, every class is an adventure, if not a struggle, and I enjoy the challenge. I started a chicken project with some of the people from my old community. There are 10 neighbors that will hopefully avoid interfamily feuds and work together cordially. The chicken man was supposed to deliver the chickens (100 15 day old broilers) last Friday but in typical Ecuadorian fashion, he did not show up until Tuesday. The chickens he brought were 7 day olds and he wanted more money than he first quoted. The group thought that this person would not take advantage because he is originally from Jima; a local and, for many, a cousin. But once he realized that I - a super rich American - was involved, he jacked up all the prices. I used some money from a grant I received to put a deposit on the first delivery of chicks. The return on 100 chickens has the potential to create a sustainable cycle of buying and selling that could greatly benefit those involved, if we can find a person a little more honest and straightforward about the prices. Jima is a bigger town than Gulazhi and I have not felt the need to visit Cuenca as often because I can buy most things here. I was in Cuenca about two weeks ago. Two weeks is a long time to go without the distractions of the big city. I am going to try to get back on a once a week schedule in order to avoid losing my mind! There was a party last Saturday here in Jima for the installation of the telephone lines. The festivities began at about noon and lasted until midnight. The highlight of the night was a group of five women called "Aroma". They were dressed more or less like five wonder women with knee-high boots, armbands, and silver costumes. There are about eight groups of such women in Ecuador, more or less Ecuador's answer to the Spice Girls, with names like Cinnamon Land, Group of Desire, Hot Caramel, etc. The thing is that all the groups sing the exact same songs with titles like -I am not making these up - a plate of guinea pig, my little rabbit, coffee with rum, pork skin (more or less fresh pork grinds - a popular dish) in Quito, my little fisherman, etc. I hid in my bed with a pillow over my ears trying to intercept Aroma's music before it corrupted my brain! At 11:30pm the band's amps and whatnot blew the power so I have not had electricity in four days. Another Saturday night . . . In other news, my neighbors, who are officially done with their service in less than a month, have decided to stay another year as volunteers in the Galapagos! If anyone would like to come down and visit, we will have a free place to stay in the Galapagos beginning this summer. They will be living on one of the larger islands that has a lot of wildlife. It would not be as inclusive a trip as one of the cruises but it would be a lot cheaper. The only cost, after the flight down, would be a flight from Quito there (about $400) and then food and any day trips (snorkeling, scuba diving, boat trips, etc.) For those people that don't like boats this is a great way to see the islands without getting on a cruise ship.All the best to everyone. Please keep in touch!
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/mattinhaiti/ecuador_-_2004/1107896940/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/mattinhaiti/ecuador_-_2004/1107896940/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/mattinhaiti/ecuador_-_2004/1107896940/tpod.html Tue, 08 Feb 2005 16:22:17 -0500 Evacuated from Haiti and dropped in Ecuador, continuing my Peace Corps adventure!

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Ibarra, Ecuador

Hello everyone!Carnival season has hit Ecuador and luckily today is the last day. The tradition here for Carnival involves soaking everyone with water balloons, buckets of water and hoses. Everyone is a fair target - I saw a nun get hit in Cuenca - and gringos are considered prime. Walking through the cities is like being in a video game, dodging balloons, peaking around corners and hiding under balconies. I would not exactly call the tradition fun and I have resorted to hiding indoors most of the time. The kids particularly get a kick out of it. Next year I think I am going to have to go to Peru or Columbia to avoid getting drenched at every turn!Since my last e-mail, I have been assigned to a new boss in Peace Corps, I have moved from my community to a town down the road, I have begun teaching English and PE at the High School and I have moved into a brand new house with a hot shower and a telephone! Everything is going well and I feel now like I am beginning to make an impact. Whereas, in my last community, collaborating with the community was like pulling teeth, in my new community, people are motivated. I live in Jima now, a town of 600 with a long history of Peace Corps assistance. There is a married couple that also lives in Jima and they have a strong tourism project that attracts many foreign visitors. Their tourism project takes up the majority of their time. There are lots of projects that they can not participate in so I am in Jima to address the other community needs. Meg and Staley are living in the next three months and will be replaced by a new volunteer who will continue to focus on tourism. I have not completely abandoned the people of Gulazhi. Tomorrow I have a meeting to talk about another chicken project. We are going to tear down the chicken coop at the elementary school and build a new one in a more neutral location. We can buy 100 week old chickens for $40. These are chickens for meat that can be sold after 6 weeks at 0.80 cents a pound. If the project goes as planned, there will be a large enough profit to buy another round of chickens and have some earnings for each of the participants (about 6 or 7 neighbors).I watched the Superbowl with a bunch of Peace Corps volunteers in the town of Ibarra. Ibarra is 10 hours north of Cuenca but I wanted to see some friends there so I jumped on the over night bus. Tonight I go back to Cuenca on that same bus. The bus is not terrible but it is not the ideal way to pass an evening! The 17th of February there is a soccer match between Cuenca and Boca Juniors. Boca Juniors is the legendary team from Argentina. I am excited to go if tickets are not too expensive. Cuenca won the Ecuadorian national champions and now they are playing in the South American Championship League.
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